Strange, but true: after a marked exception in the late 19th century (precisely because of its separate significance, this period will be excluded from our field of view here) and despite a powerful re-activation after the 1990s (which will be a particular object of our interest), relations with the US have not been among the most determinative for Bulgarian literature and culture.

Some of the reasons for this are clear: geopolitical and ideological constellations during the 20th century, geographical distance and perhaps an even greater distance within the sphere of national character…

Form 10 to 12 of April in Ohrid (Macedonia) took place the first Bulgarian-Macedonian Scientific Seminar "European values in the works of Bulgarian and Macedonian literary artists of the twentieth century", realized within the joint project of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences. Project leaders are Assoc. Prof Dr. Alexander Yordanov from the Institute for Literature, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Acad. Milan Gurchinov from MANU.

On March 31st, in the "St. St. Cyril and Methodius" National Library lobby was presented the new book of short stories by Plamen Antov - "Margins of Delay", issued by "Janet" 45 Publishing house. Prof. Boryana Hristova, Director of the National Library opened the presentation: "As the title indicates, this book should be considered slowly. It somewhat opposes the 'rapid' literature - this is a very slow prose, so slow that even its own appearance is such a dramatic act, which it would prefer to save."

On December 16th, 2013, in the Conference Hall of the National Library "St. St. Cyril and Methodius" the "Poles of Critical Destiny" - part 3 Jubilee conference was held. It was dedicated to the anniversary of Vladimir Vasilev’s birth (130 years), Malcho Nikolov’s birth (130 years) and Krustio Kuyumdjiev’s birth (80 years). Prof. Boryana Hristova, Director of the National Library, opened the conference and expressed her firm belief that the National Library was the place where the memory of the greatest Bulgarian artists and literary critics was kept alive. The morning session was devoted to the work of the literary critic and publisher – the cultural strategist Vladimir Vasilev. In his report "The Genre Perfection of Vladimir Vasilev" Prof. Mihail Nedeltchev (NBU) read a statement, in which he expressed his outrage of the infamous denial of Vladimir Vasilev’s presence in our cultural life after 9th of September, the acts of humiliation, to which he was systematically subjected.

On 22 November, a National Scientific forum on the occasion of 90th anniversary of Ivaylo Petrov’s Birth was held. The forum was organized by Modern and Contemporary Bulgarian Literature Department at the Institute for Literature – BAS and New Bulgarian Studies Department at the New Bulgarian University. Greetings were delivered by Dr. Tosho Donchev, director of the Hungarian Cultural Institute, who pointed some Hungarian translations of the most important works of Ivaylo Petrov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bissera Dakova and Assos. Prof. Dr. Plamen Doynov who told about the fateful match in the two institutions’ intentions on firstly independent but subsequently combined into one forum initiatives about Ivaylo Petrov.

"Pythagoras" Award for Assoc. Prof. PHD Dorothey Getov

On June 18, 2015 the Minister of Education and Science Prof. Todor Tanev awardеd the "Pythagoras" prizes for an essential contribution to the development of science to Bulgarian scientists and research teams. The award for senior researchers in social sciences and humanities was awarded to Assoc. Prof. PHD Dorothey Naydenov Getov from the Institute for Literature at BAS. Assoc. Prof. Dorothey Getov is a prominent Bulgarian specialist in Greek palaeography and codicology and history of Byzantine literature. He has specialized in the “Dumbarton Oaks" Research Center for Medieval Studies (USA), the "Max Planck” Institute, Lincoln College (Oxford) and the universities in Thessaloniki and Vienna. Assoc. Prof. D. Getov explores Byzantine manuscripts related to the history of European law, examines the Greek manuscripts in Bulgaria as texts of the Byzantine literature. Author of seven books and more than 20 papers in Bulgarian, Modern Greek, English and German. In a recently issued volume in Belgium Assoc. Prof. Getov included 102 manuscripts and fragments from the library of Bachkovo Monastery, nearly 1,000 years old, and he managed to identify three original manuscript of one of the founders of the Monastery - Gregory Pakurian. D. Getov discovered hundreds of unknown works of Byzantine literature, including 253 manuscripts of anthems, found in Bulgaria, 670 - in Sinai manuscripts and more. With his whole research work Assoc. Prof. Dorothey Getov enriches the scientific resource of contemporary humanities.